Fresh Thinking Business

Fresh Thinking Business is a Web site that offers free advice and tips on starting and running a small business. It provides support for budding entrepreneurs who are wanting to take that "leap of faith" into the business world. At Fresh Business Thinking you will find free business articles to help you on your way and provide direction to help your business grow.
Enjoy your visit to Fresh Thinking Business
Doug Platts, Creator of Fresh Thinking Business

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Your nine-step guide business plan

You know you need a businees plan - but what do you need to include in it? What should you plan for?

Businesses are far more likely to succeed if the have a business plan than those that don't. You need a plan that is functional and useful, that covers everything. It must be a working plan.

The length of your business plan can vary, it might be one page - excellent work. It might be twenty pages - that's fine, too. Your business plan should be as detailed as it needs to be in order for it to be useful. Because being useful is the bottom line.

A nine-step guide to what your business plan needs to included

Every business needs a business. But what needs to be included to have a business plan that is going to help your company grow.

The length of a business plan can vary from business to business. There are however certain areas that you need to look at for you plan to be useful. Here is a quick nine-step guide to what you will need in your company's business plan

Thursday, October 12, 2006

How to make your website 'sticky' and keeping your customers coming back for more.

There are a number of ways a website can be improved so that it will not only attract more potential customers, but also keep them there on your website.

Any business can build a website that can attract and hold its visitors, truing them into customers and providing your business with an increased number of completed sales and satisfied customers. You just need to know who you are building the website for and understand how each element of the site's design adds to the appeal of the overall offering.

Do you want your small business to succeed?

Here are 5 key ingredients that you will need if you want your small business to succeed. Many entrepreneurs have tried to start businesses without giving enough attention to each of these requirements, and their businesses have failed.

An idea for a product or service that customers are willing to buy at a sufficiently high price to allow for a big margin above cost.

The ability to produce the product or service.

Personal contacts for acquiring information and other resources.

Money to keep the business going during the start-up phase.

Sufficient customer orders to cover all costs and expenses and to provide a profit.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Dotcom revival

After the dotcom disaster in 2000, where Bill Gates saw his personal fortune drop $30 billion in six hours, people believed that the golden days of Internet riches were surely gone for good.

Six years on and the dotcom is back! A whole new generation of online businesses are rising from the proverbial ashes.

Taking the online route is still the cheapest and most simple way of starting up a business. The difference second time round, is that people are concentrating on making money without the risk taking and experimentation from before.

Studies have shown that being online makes marketing a lot more effective and is probably the most effective way of increasing your customer base.

So what are the basic secrets of dotcom success? According to business consultant NM Maravilla, author of the best-selling Online Marketing, there are three vital rules:

Make sure your website gives customers what they are looking for. Is it customer-friendly? Studies show that up to 30 per cent of potential clients will log off if the site if the site is too slow or too complicated.

Customer service is even more important than competitive pricing when attracting dotcom business. This should be constantly monitored and improved.

Focus on getting the basics right. Satisfied customers lead to referrals and a referral, particularly word of mouth, is still the cheapest and most effective way to extend your customer base.

"If we have learned anything from the 2000 dotcom crash it is that online success does not necessarily depend on the amount of capital a start-up has," NM Maravilla says.

"Small businesses can thrive in ecommerce and more than hold their own with the big boys, so long as they remember that on the internet customers rule."

"A dotcom can have all the money and technical know-how in the world but, take it from me, it will surely fail if it doesn't serve its customers well."

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Who inspires you? Small business top role model: Richard Branson

Small business people have voted Richard Branson as the ultimate business role model in a recent survey commissioned by Intuit, maker of QuickBooks financial management software.

More than 500 small business owners and directors were asked across the UK who their business role model is.

Twenty-five per cent of respondents said that Richard Branson was their top role model, while six per cent opted for Alan Sugar and six per cent for retail guru Phillip Greeen.

Some people looked further afield for their motivation, naming Ronald Reagan, Jesus Christ, RnB star Jay-Z, Sir Frank Whittle (inventor of the jet engine) and Bill Kenwright, chairman of Everton FC, as their business role models,

A futher eighteen per cent felt that the person who most inspired them and their business was a member of their family.